The Russellville Advertising and Promotion Commission voted unanimously to secure a contract to host a large-scale FLW Outdoors fishing tournament next year.

"Bassmasters and FLW are the big tournaments," said Commissioner Andy Thomas during Thursday's meeting.

FLW consistently books up tournaments, bringing in hundreds of anglers, said Ray Scheide, a FLW angler from Dover. Scheide, a long-time FLW angler, was asked to tell commissioners about FLW and its the tournaments.

"They (FLW) have all the vendors and all the sponsors," Scheide said, noting the tournaments include a staging area at Wal-Mart and about 40 big-name vendors. "They run the smoothest show you can imagine."

FLW was growing so much this might be Russellville's only chance to host an event, Scheide said.

"Our crowds have outgrown Wal-Mart parking," he said

Christie Graham, executive director of tourism under the A&P, added that in the future, FLW was looking at cities with convention centers. The tournament could be a one-time thing, she said.

The tournament will be held May 9-12 with the final weigh-in at the Wal-Mart parking lot. The four-day event is expected to bring in at least 200 professional anglers and 200 co-anglers.

Family members are also expected to tag along to watch the tournament.

Including all the families, staff and anglers coming to the tournament, FLW estimated its tournament to bring about $3.7 million to Russellville, according to the FLW economic impact statement.

About 4,300 hotel rooms would be rented nightly for five nights, earning about $344,000. Another $172,000 is expected to go to restaurants. The proposed economic impact could be more than what Crappie USA could have brought to Russellville in 2008.

Crappie USA does not offer an economic impact statement, but city officials said the estimated economic impact was about $1.5 million.

The commission may also save money that could go toward FLW by breaking with Crappie USA. The cost to host the 2008 Crappie USA tournament was about $60,000; FLW has agreed to come for $40,000.

Breaking the Crappie USA contract will cost $5,000 by the end of this year plus hosting another tournament next year for $5,000.

The cumulative total for breaking with Crappie will be about $10,000, but the A&P should have $15,000 of the $20,000 set aside for the 2008 tournament.

A&P could not afford both tournaments and decided to go with the one that looked most beneficial to Russellville, Graham said earlier.

Crappie USA has verbally agreed to allow the A&P to break its contract, Graham said.

But as of Thursday, no official contract had been drawn by Crappie USA that would allow the A&P out of the old contract, she said.

According to City Attorney Trey Smith, the contract is binding.

Graham said she expected to hear from Crappie USA soon.

In related business

The A&P voted to obtain underwriting and sponsorship for FLW, giving Chairman Brad Allen the authority to work on the level of giving.

The commission voted to go back and re-evaluate the budget. Graham found the recent budget had no money for Crappie USA, leaving the commission with nothing to go toward FLW.

"We're going to have to get the budget ironed out," Allen said. "We need to get it detailed as to where it went."

The commission voted to re-examine its bylaws to see what changes can be made to the budget during the year.

A motion was made and passed to give Graham the power to negotiate for compensation rooms from hotels and motels and to budget for any non-compensation rooms that may be required for FLW.

The deadline for applying for grants more than $2,000 for next year is Oct. 15.